


Looking Forward, Looking Back

by nagia



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-25
Updated: 2009-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:39:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagia/pseuds/nagia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twenty-five sentences about Hannya's relationship to Misao.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking Forward, Looking Back

#01 - Motion

She's dirty and tearstained and very, very clearly a Makimachi; he plucks her out of the underbrush and holds her close, tucking the top of her head under his chin as he murmurs to his Okashira, "My lord, I believe I've found her."

#02 - Cool

She's usually a healthy child, but when she's feverish, he holds her close and lets the porcelain of his mask rest against her heated cheek; she calms, then, stops her thrashing and goes quiet.

#03 - Young

Shikijou laughs at them, scarred face tilted up: "Aren't you a little young to be a father, Hannya?"

#04 - Last

"Your Aoshi-sama is coming back," he murmurs to her, one last lullaby in a lifetime of crooned half-remembered songs, a few last words, a last wish, and she gives him his last smile and if he could touch her face, he would.

#05 - Wrong

He's the only one to look back as they reach the end of the street, back at the Aoi-ya; he's the only one to look back at Kyoto when they reach the Oniwabanshuu track; he's the only one to look back on what they used to be when they're in Kanryuu's service.

#06 - Gentle

He's the one to teach her the rudiments of the Oniwabanshuu kempo, under Aoshi's watchful eye--such a shame it would be, if the daughter of the previous Okashira learned her own family's style incorrectly, or so Aoshi seems to think--how tiny her hands are compared to his own will sometimes startle him, a decade hence, when he has not seen her in years.

#07 - One

He's always been at peace with the world and its flaws, uncaring, unconcerned, but now he lets her sleep beside him at night, looks down at his two hands and wishes he could change the world, wishes he could make it less frightening for her.

#08 - Thousand

He's rubbed off on her in ways she'll never be able to identify; sometimes she catches herself counting stars and wondering if she would do this if Hannya had never counted stars and pine trees and poisonous mushrooms with her.

#09 - King

"Ten seconds," he says, calculating odds and times and worthy sacrifices, and how much he wants to see her face again and how much he doesn't want his Okashira--her Aoshi-sama--to die, "that's cutting it close."

#10 - Learn

"And that's why?" Her young eyes are wide, wider even than usual, and Hannya does not bother to repress his smile behind the mask as he answers, "That is why."

#11 - Blur

She wakes alone to the sound of rain beating against the wooden shutters, and she's up and dressed and careening through the inn, looking for people who aren't there, who have vanished like fog on a warm morning, and out the windows she sees only a gray street being pelted by gray water.

#12 - Wait

Telling this child they'll be back soon is even crueller than the act of leaving--or so Okon thinks as she tries to coax Misao out of her position by the window, the shutter cracked enough for her to see and her ear tilted toward the street.

#13 - Change

The first time he takes up a "normal" guise in her presence, Misao cries and shakes, so disturbed or afraid that she cannot even articulate what's wrong--until Hannya removes the disguise, stands before her in her demon mask.

#14 - Command

"There may be survivors," their Okashira says, but he does not need to tell them to search: they're already looking.

#15 - Hold

The best way to comfort Misao when she cries, Hannya learns, is to pull her into his arms, let her hear his heartbeat, and remind her that she isn't alone.

#16 - Need

Hannya does not ask if Aoshi plans to return to Kyoto at any time in the future; he already knows the answer.

#17 - Vision

He's seeing red, now, but the red is fading into white, the world is blurring, going gray--the last thing he sees he suspects is a smear of blood on the floor, but it puts him in mind of a tight, dark braid.

#18 - Attention

"Misao," Hannya says, tone only a little sharp, and her head snaps up instantly, gaze jerking away from the fox kit half hidden in the underbrush.

#19 - Soul

"Your Aoshi-sama is coming back to you," she hears even as she closes her eyes against the slow pulse of a heart that she knows no longer beats.

#20 - Picture

There are a few photographers in Kyoto, now, and Aoshi only watches as Misao fidgets in front of one, trying to hold perfectly still for the exposure but not quite able to, wondering without needing to wonder what Hannya would have made of this.

#21 - Fool

It's a lie, she thinks, reeling away; it's a lie, it's a lie, it's a lie, they can't be dead, Aoshi-sama wouldn't, Hannya isn't--and the world spins and her mouth throbs and she closes her eyes, suddenly dizzy.

#22 - Mad

She's filthy and sticky and alone and he knows what happened to her parents and he doesn't think he's ever been so angry in his life, but he pushes the anger away as he lifts her out of her hiding spot, makes sure to keep his touch gentle and his voice soothing as he carries her to Aoshi.

#23 - Child

She looks fragile as she sleeps--she's tiny even for her age, looks even younger than she is, and Hannya cannot help but smooth hair away from her face.

#24 - Now

Aoshi-sama stays near the clearing's edge, gives her enough space that the reality of their deaths finally hits her, finally gains immediacy.

#25 - Shadow

"A trick of the light," Hannya says to the child clinging to his leg, "it's only a trick."


End file.
